Uchiha Iroh
by Cooprotis
Summary: everyone's favorite firebender is reborn into the Uchiha clan
1. Chapter 1

Iroh did not know what to expect in death, but it certainly wasn't this. He had always expected to inhabit the spirit realm or to simply cease to exist. Never the less, he was happy to be given another chance at life, and he would not waste it. In this life he seemed to have been born into a well off family, if a little cold. Ultimately, that was nothing new and so Iroh took it in stride, smiling at everyone he saw, much to his parents confusion. His name, as it turned out, was still Iroh but his last name was now Uchiha and he belonged to a large family or clan as it was called here. They all seemed to have similar looks and constitutions but what interested him most about his new family was their occupation. They all seemed to be some type of mercenaries and the entire clan was centered around the mercenary way of life, as well as the fact that many of the people he knew as family were often missing or appeared injured. However, what really tipped Iroh off to their profession was the way they all carried themselves. Like only the finest trained imperial guards of the fire nation, there seemed to always be a deadly grace in the way they moved. It seemed, however, that Iroh's parents were not warriors, but instead provided support for the rest of the clan by making weapons. This was fine with Iroh, but apparently to others in the clan this made his family second class citizens. More than once Iroh had heard disparaging comments being made about his parents profession. That, and his warm brown eyes, so different from the coal black of his clan.

As Iroh grew, it became clear to both his parents and the clan that he was highly intelligent for his age, though oddly friendly for an Uchiha. Nonetheless, by the time Iroh was 5, tensions between the hidden villages were beginning to rise once again, and all promising children were rushed into the academy in preparation for the war. For Iroh the academy provided a wealth of information about this new world he had been born into. He lived in the village of Konoha, ironically located in the land of fire, but perhaps most importantly, in this world every living thing possessed an innate energy called chakra. In his nightly meditations Iroh had become aware of some kind of energy, more malleable than firebending, living within him.

He had elected not to experiment with his chakra before this point, as he was sure that those wiser and more experienced in its use would eventually explain it more fully than he could divine by himself. The idea that everyone could control multiple elements was entirely foreign to Iroh, and he was unsure that he could ever bring himself to use any element except for fire. Instead of focusing too much on chakra, Iroh decided to concentrate his efforts on taijutsu. In this discipline Iroh felt quite comfortable, and he immediately began to focus on building a strong base of taijutsu, having decided that he would aim to become a master of the discipline so that he could feasibly say that he had invented firebending.

Oh yes, Iroh was determined to find a way to use firebending. He was sure it was possible. After all, chakra could already be used to make fire; all he would need to do was hold on to that fire instead of forming it into a jutsu. To make that happen though, Iroh would first have to make himself out to be a taijutsu prodigy capable of creating his own style. He quickly mastered the academy basic style and moved on to learning the Uchiha clan taijutsu, earning quite a bit of attention for his mastery. Despite his lack of the Sharingan, many of his Senseis were saying Iroh was ready to graduate by the end of his first year. Instead, Iroh elected to stay in the academy, wishing to learn more basic knowledge of this new world. However, halfway through his second year in the academy, the second great shinobi war was declared. Iroh knew there was no way that the village would allow his talent to be wasted in the academy when he was capable of fighting. So at the age of 7 Iroh found himself with a Konoha head band and a team.

Iroh was sent out to the frontline of the second shinobi war with his genin team after half a year of lighter missions within the land of fire to prepare themselves for combat. His sensei was a distinguished Kunochi named Koharu Utatane, and his teammates were a pair of civilian twins who had larger than average chakra reserves. Their squad had been designed as a heavy hitting frontline team, with two Ninjutsu specialists and a Taijutsu specialist. The Hokage could no longer afford to keep such a team, genin or not, off the frontline. They were rotated on to a base on the border of the land of frost that needed reinforcement.

The first two months were full of intense fighting with Kumo shinobi, but manageable, as their sensei was there to cover for any mistakes they made in battle. Unfortunately, Koharu sensei was required elsewhere for a mission and her team was left alone at the border. It was only two weeks after that, that both of Iroh's teammates were killed in one of the countless skirmishes by a lightning Jutsu. Iroh was quietly furious to lose the two boys who he had come to care for, but he tempered his rage and made sure it did not control him. instead, he inflicted his ire on his opponents with ruthless efficiency. The other shinobi at the base had some sympathy for the young Uchiha but could do little more than provide a comforting word whenever they had the chance. When Koharu sensei returned, they held a small funeral together to mourn their teammates' death before moving on and focusing on surviving the battles to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Iroh returned from the front after six grueling months of fighting, tired and bloodied. He had honed his taijutsu on numerous opponents and begun to succeed in incorporating firebending movements into his style. Koharu sensei had made sure she did all she could to help Iroh by teaching him anything she could think of, as she wished at least one of her students would survive the war. She could admit to having grown close to the odd Uchiha boy with a kind and forgiving nature.

In fact, many of the shinobi Iroh had been stationed with had found themselves pleasantly surprised by the humor and wisdom the young boy possessed, and held quite a bit of comradery with the boy by the time he and his sensei left the base. It also didn't hurt that the young Uchiha was quite adept at using his taijutsu in combat. Now though, back in the village, he was once again treated as a fresh Genin, not that it seemed to bother Iroh. Currently, he and his sensei were making their way to the Hokage's office, presumably so that Koharu sensei could report to her old teammate. However, when they entered the room Iroh found himself standing alone, directly in front of the Hokage as he received a Chunin promotion.

Afterwards, when he spoke to his Sensei she admitted that despite his young age he already had the mindset of a Chunin, and although she wished she could continue to work with him, it simply wasn't feasible for a very important Jounin such as herself to continue to teach a single Chunin. Iroh accepted his promotion easily enough, although he was somewhat startled by how willing everyone was to promote an 8 year old, but managed to wrangle out a promise to keep in touch with Koharu Sensei. For her part, Koharu was sad to see Iroh go, but confident in his abilities as a chunin. If she wasn't, she wouldn't have allowed Hiruzen to promote him.

Unfortunately, as a Chunin, Iroh was expected to return to the frontlines after only three months, so he was determined to use his precious time off to evolve his taijutsu into something resembling Firebending. To achieve this goal he would need to be able to control fire nature chakra, and for that he needed a teacher. Koharu Sensei was more than happy to point him in the direction of the best fire natured ninja she knew, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief that her student had finally decided to learn how to do more with his chakra than the few C and D rank Jutsus She had managed to force him into learning. It wasn't as if he had small reserves, or struggled to learn any of the techniques she taught him. he had easily picked up all of the chakra enhancement techniques like tree walking and body strengthening, but was almost dangerously focused on his taijutsu. Iroh _had _been able to survive with only his taijutsu, but it was more than past the time for him to diversify his skills.

Iroh met with Kagami Uchiha the next day to start learning how to harness his fire nature. Both teacher and student were surprised to find a like minded Uchiha in the other. It wasn't often that one came across an Uchiha that was willing to socialize so openly, and they quickly bonded over their shared experiences. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Iroh took to using fire natured chakra quite easily, but that didn't mean that Kagami was running out of things to teach him.

They worked on refining his control of chakra, and after some thought Iroh also decided to explain the idea of firebending to Kagami. Kagami didn't quite understand the philosophies Iroh was spewing at him, but he could understand how devastating a taijutsu style that utilized fire natured chakra could be. So, in light of this, Kagami decided that they would only be focusing on harnessing raw fire chakra during their training, instead of wasting precious time teaching Iroh any Jutsus. After a month of training together, Kagami was called back to the front lines, but that month had been enough. Iroh was once again able to run through his basic firebending katas. It was still a work in progress as the technique was very chakra intensive, so he wasn't able to use fire as freely as he wanted. Still, it was something, and Iroh was confident that with more practice, he would effectively be able to use his style in battle.


End file.
